Welding and flash removing machine



March 23, 1943. H; E. MORTON WELDING AND FLASH REMOVING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 17, 1940 Kittomegs I March 23, 1943. MORTON WELDING AND FLASH REMOVING MACHINE Filed Oct. 17, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 23, 1943. H. E. MORTON WELDING AND FLASH REMOVING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 17, 1940 Zhwentor 7 T Wm? /w 4 Shgets-Shget 4 lhwentor (Ittomegs H. E. MORTON Filed Oct. 17, 1940 WELDING AND FLASH REMOVING MACHINE March 23, 1943.

Patented Mar. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE wsn ma 333mm momma Henry Earl Horton. ll ukegon Heights, Mich. mucnfldll 17, 194., 861131 N0. 361,48! I 6 (him. (i. 90-33) This invention relates generally to welding apparatus and more particularly to butt welding apparatus having provision for removing excess material from the welded joint.

It has usually been the practice in butt weld ing metallic sheets together to hold the sheets in separate clamps and bring edges of the sheets together under force during flow of the welding current in order to obtain adesired strong weld.

This forcing or jamming oi the edges of the sheets together causes the metal to be upset resulting in so-called welding flash which is required to be removed. In the past, the usual procedure has been to unclamp the welded together sheets and move the metallic sheet to a position beneath cutters where it is clamped in place and where the so-called flash is removed by the cutters. To clamp the sheets for the welding operation, then unclamp the welded sheet, move it to another .position and apply clamps to hold the sheet for removal oi" the flash by the cutter is obviously laborious and the time required for the clamping and unclamping of the sheets or welded sheet adds greatly to the cost of producing continuous sheet metal which is of course objectionable.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved machine by means of which metallic sheets may be butt taken in connection with the accompanying.

drawingsinwhich:

Figure 1 is an end elevational view partly broken away and in section of a combined butt welding and flash removing machine;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in cross section and partly in elevation of the machine, taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 2-2 of Fig. 1; v V

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detafl view. of a chain drive for driving reciprocating flash removing cutters;

Fig. 4 is a view shown in longitudinal section of thechain andrtrack -therei'or,-takenalongihe-llnnthe movable base section there is an W line and in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of 8. 3; 7--

Flg. 5 is a view shown in vertical longitudinal section of the machine and taken along the line [-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view oi the machine, taken along the line and in the direction 0!- the arrows 8-8 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a vertical cross sectional view of the machine, taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows '|'-'l oiFig. 1;

Fig. 8 man enlarged fragmentary view to show primarily theflash removing cutters oi the present machine; and t Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view, taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows i-l of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, the'presentmachine includes a base of sectional construction comprising 'a stationary section ll and a movable section Ii. The movable section ii of the base is slidably supported and guided by guideways or tracks [2 for movement horizontally toward or away from the stationary section III. the purpose of which is herein described in the description of operation of the machine. As shown in Fig. 5, the'movable section II of the base is provided with spaced, depending lugs l3 disposed between which a cam l4 engages ,the opposing faces of the lugs and is operable to move the basesection ii toward or away from the base section 10. A shaft I5 is provided on which the cam II is secured and on the shaft II a driven gear I! is in -mesh with a drive gear ll on a shaft II which may be driven by any suitable source of power.

Mounted respectively on top 01' the stationary base l0 and on the movable base H thereis a pair of welding electrodes l8 and 18 which extend toward each other and are provided with opposed end wall surfaces 2| and 20 respectively. The electrodes l8 and I9 seat on and are insulated from the base sections II and I0 respectively by suitable electric insulating material 22, the electrodes and insulating material being secured to the base sections It and II by screws 23 which are also insulated from the bases by suitable electric insulating material. The screws 23 may also serve as the terminals for the electrodes and are connected by lead wires 25 to a source of electric current suitable for welding purposes.

Mounted on the base section In there is an upper casing or frame structure 26 and mounted casing or frame struture 21 which is similar to the upper frame structure 26. The upper frame structure 28 includes an end wall 23 from which spaced side walls 23 extend toward the other frame structure 21 and and terminate in vertically extending, outturned flanges 3|. Similarly, the upper structure 21 includes an end wall 3| from which integral side walls 32 extend toward the structure 28 and terminate in outturned flanges 33. The flanges 30 and 33 serve respectively as vertical guides for vertically movable supporting plates 34 and 35 which at their opposite ends are provided with inwardly facing guide channels 36 and 31 respectively to receive the outturned flanges 30 and 33.

Rigidly secured respectively to the lower ends of the vertically movable supporting plates 34 and 35 is a pair of plate-like clamping members 4| and 42 which respectively and immediately overlie the electrodes l9 and I8. Preferably electric insulating material 43 is disposed between the lower ends of each of the supporting plates 34 and 35 and the clamping members 4| and 42 carried thereby. The clamping member 4| and the electrode i9 engage opposite sides of a metallic sheet 44 adjacent one edge thereof to hold the sheet 44 against movement and the other clamping member 42 and the electrode |3 engage opposite sides of another metallic sheet 45 to hold it while the said edges of the sheets are jammed together by movement of the base section H and casing 21 carried thereby toward the right, facing Fig. 5. The clamping members 4| and 42 are individually forced downwardly to clamp the sheets respectively to the electrodes |9 and I8 preferably by pneumatic or hydraulic power means. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, one or more cylinders 46 are mounted on the top walls of each of the upper casings 26 and 21 and pistons 41 in the cylinders are rigidly connected by connecting rods 48 to outturned lugs 49 of the clamp carrying plates 34 and 35. The

cylinders 46 may receive fluid under pressure from any suitable source to force the pistons downwardly to clamp the metallic sheets 44 and 45 to the electrodes l9 and I8 respectively.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the upper casings 26 and 21 are rigidly secured respectively to the stationary base section In and to the movable base section H by bolts 50. Preferably the casings 26 and 21 are pivoted or hinged, as at 5|, adjacent their end walls 28 and 3| to ears 52 and 53 provided respectively on the base sections l0 and H so that upon release of the bolts the upper casings may be swung outwardly away from each other to give access to the structure within the casings and to the structure mounted on the base sections l0 and H. Rigidly secured to an under surface of the clamping member 4| there is a plate member 55 and rigidly secured to the electrode l9 there is a similar plate 56, the plates 55 and 56 diverging outwardly to provide a guide for the metallic sheets. Similarly diverging plates 51 and 58 are respectively secured to the clamping member 42 and the electrode |8 to provide a guide for entrance of the metallic sheets between the clamps and electrodes.

As previously mentioned, when the edges of the metallic sheets to be welded are jammed together during flow of the current through the adjacent border portions of the sheets, the metal is upset leaving aso-called flash which is designated by the numeral 60, Figs. 5 and 6, which flash is required to be removed so that the welded together sheets will have continuously smooth surfaces on both sides thereof. In order to remove the flash 60 without removing the sheets from beneath the clamps 4| and 42, I provide cutting means arranged to operate above the sheets in the space between the clamp carrying plates 34 and 35 and cutting means arranged to operate below the metallic sheets between the adjacent spaced walls, as at 32 and $3, respectively of the base sections I0 and H.

Carried by the clamp carrying plate 34 between the plates 34 and 35 there is a guideway including a channel member 65 which is disposed against the inner wall surface of the plate 34 and extends transversely of the machine or of the sheets of metal passing therethrough. Fitted over the channel member 55, a second channel member 66 cooperates therewith to provide a track or enclosed slideway 6611 wherein a chain 61 is guided to prevent the chain from buckling, the chain 61 being secured at one end thereof to a carrier 63 for a plurality of spaced cutters 63. The channel members 65 and G6 are rigidly secured together and to the supporting plate 34 by screws or bolts T0 or by any other suitable means. The carrier 63, as shown in Fig. l, is in the form of a plate and, as shown in Fig. 6, one side of the carrier plate 68 is slotted or recessed to receive the channel member 66 on which the carrier plate is slidably supported. Removable flange members H are secured to the carrier plate 68 and cooperate with the recessed wall thereof to provide retaining channels for retaining the carrier plate on the guide channel 63. Preferably the cutters 69 are separately or individually secured to their common carrier 63 in recesses provided therein and each of the cutters is preferably provided with a holder 12 which may be secured by screws 13 to the carrier plate 68. The cutting edges, as at 14, of the cutters 59 extend below their respective holders 12 and are arranged to move between the spaced, opposed end faces of the clamping members 4| and 42. As illustrated in Fig. 8, the cutters 33 are arranged such that each removes some of the excess material or flash 60 thus distributing the cutting away of the flash between the several cutters. Screws l5 individually secure the cutters 69 to the carrier plate 63 and, by means of the screws, the cutters may be adjusted vertically to arrange the cutting edges thereof so that each of the cutters will remove some of the weld flash, the cutters being arranged such that the entire flash is removed by a single movement of the cutters across the sheet metal.

The lower cutting unit is mounted on th base section vertical wall 62 and, since this unit is the same in structure as the previously described cutting unit, repetition of the description is deemed unnecessary and, therefore, the like parts of the two cutting units are designated by like numerals.

The lower cutters extend upwardly between the spaced opposed faces 20 and 2| of the welding electrodes I8 and |9 and operate to remove or cut away the weld flash 60 from the underside of the welded together metallic sheets. The corresponding ends of the upper and lower chains 61 may be secured to'their respective cutter supporting plates 63 by pins 16, Fig. 6, or by other suitable means.

To move the upper and lower cutting units across the sheet rzetal to cut away the flash 60, the cutting units are pushed through the medium of the chains 61 which are driven preferably by an electric motor 80. Referring more particularly to Fig. 7, the electric motor 30 is mounted on and externallyotageareasinglhwhereinadriven cear'flonthedrlveshattotthemotorllmeahes wlthanddrivesagearllwhichisflxedrmarotatableshai'tflsupportedinbossesllol'thecaslns 8|. Securelyflxedontheshaftltawormgear Ii meshes with a worm wheel 81 which is keyed toavertically extending. rotatable shaft II. The shaft t8 extendsupwardlythroughacasingfl whereinagearfl iskeyedtotheshaftllinmesh with the lower chain 51, the casing "providing amiidepassagellaroundthesearlltorthe lower chain. Theguidepassage l2 andtbelower chain guideway a on thewall i! are connected by an intermediate guideway 53, see Fig. 1. The intermediate guldeway 93 is rigidly secured at one endthereoi'tothevertlcalwaliotthebase llby screws l4 andisrlgidlysecuredatthe otherend thereof by screws orby other suitable means.

'Ihe vertical shaft 8| extends upwardly above thecasingllandtheupperendoftheshaft" ls hollow to receive a lower end portion of a second shaft Ila which is splined to shaft 8., as at "D. The shaft Ila extends through a second casing 880 whereinagearfiiskeyedtotheshaftllaand meshes with the upper chainil. The casing He provides a guide channel 8 for the upper chain 61, the guide channel 95 being connected to the upper guideway its by an intermediate chain guideway member 51. Integral with the upper and lower. casings 88c and 58 are horizontally extending U-shaped guide channels 98 of which only theupper channel isshowinseel ig. 2. Itwlll be seen that the splined connection between shafts 88 and "a permits raising of the upper cutting unit with the clamp supporting plate 34 without disconnecting the upper chain from its power drive means.

Intermediate the upper and lower casings Bio and at there is a control means for reversing the electric motor 80, the control means bein supported by a casing m which surroimds the shaft 88 and is mounted on the top of the casing 85. Within the casing lull, a gear Nil secured to the vertical shaft 88 and drives a gear W2 which is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 483. The shaft m3 is rotatably supported in a boss in wmoh is integral with and internally of the casing iflll and secured to the lower end of the shaft m3 9. beve gear W5 meshes with a larger bevel gear 108 which carries a pair of radially spaced switch operating arms W! and M8. Mounted on the casing Mt externally thereof a switch. designated in general by the numeral lid, is provided with an operating member ill which is operated or moved in one direction by the operating arm 68 to cause the motor 35 to rotate the shaft 88 in one direction to move the cutting units to cut away the flash 5|, after which the operating arm llll actuates the switch ill to reverse the motor ll and return the cutting units to the positions shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1.

The motor 8!, gear mechanism and other structure which are mounted on the gear casing 8| are slidably supported in guideways on a base 2,

. Figs.,1 and 7. The casing {I is provided with a depending log I I3 provided witha threaded bore to receive a screw 4 which may be rotated by any suitable source of power to slide the upper structure along its base.

Operation I In operation of the above described machine,

the metallic sheets 44 and may be led from left to right facing Fig. 5, for example, during are held in raised positions, spaced from the electrodes .1: and Is by mud pressure acting against the undersides of the pistons 41. Prior to the positioning of the metallic sheets 44 and projecting slightly beyond or past the opposed faces of the clamping members and electrodes.

With the metallic sheets 44 and 45 heldby the clamping members to the electrodes, the cam 14 moves the base section II and structure carrled thereby toward the stationary base I during which time the welding current flows from the electrode I! through the clamped border portion of the sheet 44 and through the clamped border portion of the sheet 45 to the other electrade It. As the edge of sheet 45 approaches the opposed edge of the sheet 44 the current flow from one to the other increases with cor responding increase in the heating of the edge portions of the sheets which are finally jammed together by the cam H to obtain a good weld. The flash 80 which results from the jamming of the sheets together is now removed by the cutters 59 which are moved between the opposed faces of the clamps 4! and 42 and between the opposed faces of the electrodes l8 and I9. In Fig. 1, the cutters 69 are shown at the right in dot and dash lines representing the starting position. When the reversible electric motor 80 is started in the proper direction (by interconnection of operating arm HI and one of the two actuators l0! and I08), it rotates the vertical shaft 88 on which the vertically spaced gears ill and 95 are keyed for rotation to move the upper and lower groups of cutters 69 by pushing the chains 61 connected thereto. The upper and lower groups of cutters 69 are thus moved to the left, Fig. 1, and remove the flash from 4 opposite sides of the welded together sheets 44 and 45. Upon completion of the cutting operation the other of the two actuators I01 and 108 engages and moves the operating arm HI of the switch' H0 which reverses the electric motor so that it may operate to'ret-urn the upper and lower groups of cutting to01s'69 to their starting position shown in dot and dash lines, Fig. 1. The welded sheets 44 and 45 are then moved to the right and the above operation is then repeated.

While I have shown and described my invention in detail it is to be understood that the same is to be limited only. by the appended claims for many changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

WhatIclaim is:

1. In apparatus of the character described. supporting means for sheet metal, a. pair of horizontally spaced vertically movable clamping members to hold a. pair of metallic sheets to be welded together with edges thereof in opposed relation between said spaced clamping members, said clamping members having abutment surfaces for engaging the metallic sheets respectively, means for moving one of said pair of which ti e th c p members H and 42 76 clamping members a limited distance toward the other and in spaced relation thereto, guide means on one of said clamping members, a movable carrier slidably guided by said guide means, a plurality of spaced cutters carried by said carrier, means for individually adjusting the cutters with respect to the abutment surfaces of said clamping members and said cutters being further guided between the clamping members and in contactual engagement therewith.

.2. In a machine of the character described, an upper clamping unit provided with an elongated space, a lower clamping unit provided with a similar space, said units being adapted for supporting therebetween a. work sheet having upper and lower elongated flash portions receivable within and extending along said spaces, one of said units being movable toward and from the other of said units to clamp' and unolamp the work sheet, a flash cutting unit carried by said one clamping unit for movement therewith and also for movement within and along the respective space for removing the respective flash portion, another flash cutting unit carried by said other clamping unit and movable within and along the respective space for removing the respective flash portion, a flexible driving chain connected to said second-named cutting unit and movable to move the latter for removing the respective flash portion, another flexible drivin member connected to said first-named cutting unit for movement with said one clamping unit and movable to move said first-named cutting unit for removing the respective flash portion, a shaft connected to said first-named driving member and rotatable to move the latter, a second shaft connected to said second-named driving member and rotatable to move the latter, and slidable connecting means between said shafts to rotate the one by the other and enable said second-named shaft and said second-named driving member to move unitarily with said one clamping unit relatively to said first-named shaft.

3. In a machine of the character described, an upper clamping unit provided with an elongated space, a lower clamping unit provided with a similar space, said units being adapted for supporting therebetween a work sheet having upper and lower elongated flash portions receivable' within and extending along said spaces, one of said units being movable toward and from the other of said units to clamp and un-clamp the work sheet, a flash cutting unit carried by said one clamping unit for movement therewith and also for movement in one direction within and along the respective space for removing the respective flash portion, another flash cutting unit carried by said other clamping unit and movable in a similar direction within and along the respective space for removing the respective flash portion, a flexible link driving member connected to said second-named cutting unit and movable to move the latter for removing the respective flash portion, another flexible link driving member connected to said first-named cutting unit for movement with said one clamping unit and movable to move said first-named cutting unit for removing the respective flash portion, a shaft connected to said first-named driving member and rotatable in one direction to move the latter for its flash removing operation, a 'second shaft slidably connected to-said second-named driving member and rotatablein a similar direction to move the latter for its flash removing operation, connecting means between said shafts to rotate the one by the other and enable said second-named shaft and said second-named driving member to move unitarily with said one clamping unit relatively to said first-named shaft, and means controlled by the rotation of said shafts in said onedirection for reversing said rotation and thereby reversing the movement of said cutting units.

4. In a machine of the character described, an upper work support movable downwardly toward and upwardly away from a lower work support for clamping and un-clamping an intermediately positioned work sheet having upper and lower flash portions to be removed therefrom, an upper cutting unit carried by said upper support for downward and upward movement therewith and movable rectilinearly relatively to'said upper support in cutting engagement with said upper flash portion to remove the latter from said sheet, a lower cutting unit carried by said lower support and movable rectilinearly relatively thereto in cutting engagement with said lower flash portion to remove the latter from said sheet, a pair of vertical shafts arranged in end-to-end relationship and interconnected so that the upper shaft is rotatably driven by the lower shaft and free the while to move axially downwardly and upwardly relatively thereto, a flexible link chain interconnecting said lower cutting unit and said lower shaft and operable responsive to rotation of the latter for rectilinearly moving the former, and a flexible link chain interconnecting said upper cutting unit and said upper shaft and arranged to move bodily downwardly and upwardly with the latter, the former and said upper work support, said last mentioned flexible link chain being operable responsive to rotation of said upper shaft for rectilinearly moving said upper cutting unit. 7

5. In a machine of the character described, an upper work support movable downwardly toward and upwardly away from a lower work supportfor clamping and un-clamping an intermediately positioned work sheet having upper and lower flash portions to be removed therefrom, an upper cutting unit carried by said upper support for downward and upward movement therewith and movable rectilinearly relatively to said upper support in cutting engagement with said upper flash portion to remove the latter from said sheet, a lower cutting unit carried by said lower support and movable rectilinearly relatively thereto in cutting engagement with said lower flash portion to remove the latter from said sheet, a pair of vertical shafts arranged in end-to-end relationship and interconnected so that the upper shaft is rotatably driven by the lower shaft and free the while to move axially downwardly and upwardly relatively thereto, a pair of sprockets flxed one to said lower shaft for rotation therewith and the other to said upper shaft for rotation and for downward and upward movement therewith, a pair of chains fixed one at one end to said lower cuttingunit and the other at one end to said upper cutting unit, the lower chain of said pair being in driven connection with said lower sprocket and the upper chain of said pair being in driven connection with said upper sprocket, a rigid housing connected at one end to said lower cutting unit and enclosing said lower chain for at least the portion of the length thereof between said lower cutting unit and said lower sprocket to prevent flexing of said length portion, and another rigid housing connected to said upper cutting unit and about said upper sprocket and enclosingthe portion of said upper chain residing therebetween to prevent flexing of said latter portion and to.

lower jaws, means for moving one of the upper and lower jaws a limited distance toward the other upper and lower jaws, whereby work may be clamped between each pair of upper and lower jaws and moved in abutting edge to edge relationship, a cutting member guided by one of the upper jaws, a cutting member guided on one of the lower jaws, said cutting members beirrg further guided by contactual engagement between the respective edges of said pair of upper and lower jaws whereby the work will be cut an equal distance on each of its abutting sides.

HENRY EARL MORTON. 

